Metropolitan Museum loses its metal

The news is already out there, but I was so shocked upon reading it that I thought a mention of it belonged here. As reported in the New York Daily News and the New York Times, evidently the Metropolitan Museum is abandoning its metal admission lapel buttons. This made me suddenly very sad.

While possibly not quite as iconic as, say, the subway token, the Metropolitan button seems entirely interwoven with growing up on the Upper East Side. As kids, my mother would often take us there and let us wander the museum for hours on end. To this day, I can still find my way around it with my eyes practically closed. 

That isn't changing, of course. The museum's staying put. But as its metal buttons vanish, so does a part of my childhood.

Sigh.